Panthers struggle early, fall 75-61 to No. 25 DePauw

Feb 06, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The BSC (10-10) Panthers gave up 21 unanswered points in the first seven minutes of their game tonight with the No. 25 DePauw University (16-5) Tigers and spent the rest of the night playing catch-up, falling 75-61.

The game started off well enough. Mark Messenger rattled off the first two buckets of the game with slashing drives into DePauw’s defense. Unfortunately it was the last lead the Panthers would see. The Tigers shot an outstanding 64-percent from the field and 67-percent from three to bury the Panthers early and keep them there.

After Messenger’s quick four the Panthers preceded to go ice cold for a six minute stretch. The Tigers took full advantage, going on a 21-0 run that was only broken at the 12:38 mark by a single Tyler Marsh free throw. The Tigers would hold on to that lead for the rest of the game. The Panthers did manage to pull back within single-digits several times, but they were never able to sustain any long run that could erase the early deficit.

The Panthers were led by Aaron Parr with 13. Mark Messenger ended the night with 12 points and four rebounds. DePauw’s Mike Moore dominated the stat sheet with 29 points in the game. As a team the Panthers shot 44-percent from the field and just 9-percent from three, going 1-of-11 on the night.

BSC will try and shake this one off as they prepare for Centre College on Sunday afternoon in their last SCAC home game of the season. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Bill Battle Coliseum.